The killing of Ann Widdecombe was, in the words of Britain’s top counterterrorism officer, a clearly targeted attack. Counterterrorism officers are now leading the investigation. It has not, at this stage, been declared a terrorist incident.
The timeline, as police have laid it out, is a short and brutal one. Last Wednesday, Widdecombe gave an interview to a Christian radio station, defending Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in the familiar, unflinching tone that had defined nearly four decades in public life.
“He probably thinks, ‘Where is this going to end? Let’s bring an end to it, let’s bring this to a head, let’s put it to the people,’” she said of Farage.
She had been broadcasting from her own home only minutes before she was attacked there. Roughly twenty minutes after the interview ended, police believe, she was killed. The following day, she was found dead at her home in the village of Haytor, in Devon.
A 28-year-old white British man remains under arrest on suspicion of both murder and the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism. Police have been granted a warrant of further detention, meaning he can now be held for questioning for up to seven days under the Terrorism Act.
CCTV footage reportedly shows him leaving his driveway in Rotherham in a red car on the morning Widdecombe was killed — the start of what investigators describe as a 270-mile journey — carrying what has been described only as a long object. He was arrested over the weekend and, in the days that followed, re-arrested on suspicion of further offenses.
Devon and Cornwall Police, who initially led the case, had repeatedly said politics and terrorism did not appear to be factors in the attack — an assessment that drew criticism as the investigation deepened. That position shifted this week, when new evidence prompted counterterrorism police to take over the inquiry.
Widdecombe was elected as a Conservative member of Parliament almost forty years ago and joined Reform UK in 2023. Her killing has reignited a question whether the country is doing enough to protect the people who serve in it. Britain’s prime minister Starmer said this week there remains much to do to better protect politicians.
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